Wet Blanket
by PinkFan-Gurl
Summary: Marinette didn't expect to get stuck in splash-match with Adrien...in a fountain...in Chloe's backyard.


**Wet Blanket**

 **...**

Marinette stared at her reflection.

Her blue eyes stood out against her fallen hair and her cheeks were the same bright red as the swimsuit she was wearing."I don't think I can do this," she whimpered, casting a look at Alya.

Alya huffed, fixing the strap on her own bikini. "Don't stress, girl. You look great."

"I can't go out there like this." Marinette gestured to her nearly naked body save the bikini that Alya had somehow managed to convince her to put on. "What if Adrien sees me?"

"Isn't that kind of the point?" Alya rolled her eyes. "You're sure to catch his attention. You look amazing, so don't worry about it."

Marinette regarded her reflection again. If it was going to be just her and Alya, Marinette would have had no problem with going to the pool in her bathing suit; no one would be paying attention to them and it would be easy to ignore the strangers around them.

But this was a party, hosted by Chloe no less, and their entire grade was going to be there. And even worse, Adrien was going to be there! Normally Marinette would do anything in her power to be in the same place as Adrien at the same time, but this was too much. If he saw her in this bathing suit she may just die of embarrassment.

"That's easy for you to say. You're always so confident and I'm just a mess."

"This is the end of the summer party, Marinette." Alya poked Marinette on the nose with a smile. "You're confident and beautiful and we're going to have a blast before we have to go back to school in two days."

Alya started to shove Marinette toward the door that would lead them out of the deserted locker room to Chloe's overcrowded pool, but Marinette made a mad grab for the closest towel to her— in this case a black one that contrasted nicely with her red suit— and wrapped it tightly around her body so that she created a makeshift dress. "Okay, I'm ready," Marinette said through a tight smile.

"What did I just say about being confident?" It was pretty obvious that Alya was trying to be angry, but there was no masking the amused light in her eyes and the restrained laugh in her voice.

Marinette secured the towel around her chest tighter. Laughing guiltily, she murmured, "What? I just don't want, uh, sunburn! Yeah! I mean look at me!" She held out her arms for show. "I'm pale as a ghost! I'll burn for sure!"

Alya rolled her eyes again. "Fine, I'll let it slide this time. Next year you're ditching the towel though."

This time when Alya seized Marinette by the wrist, Marinette allowed herself to be led outside. There was no point fighting against it this time, especially since she had bothered to show up in the first place. In retrospect, she should have told Alya that she wasn't interested, but at the time she hadn't known that the pool party was Chloe's doing or that Adrien would be there…

The sun was bright when they stepped outside, and Marinette had to shield her eyes until they adjusted properly. Loud music blared over unseen speakers and several tables piled high with food were scattered around. Several people were lounging on beach chairs while others either played in the pool or socialized around the edges. She recognized most of the people in the pool as people from her class, except for Nathaniel who was sketching at a table off to the side.

Marinette tightened the towel around her again, hoping that Adrien wasn't around to see her. Fortunately, Adrien wasn't in the pool, but the next worse person to run into was. "Yo, girls," Nino called from the far end of the pool, waving frantically as to make sure they saw him.

Marinette face palmed. Alya smiled and waved back. "Hey, Nino! Sweet party, huh?"

Nino alighted on the pool's edge, panting softly from the long distance swim. "I was wonderin' when ya would get here."

Alya crouched down so that she was as close to eye level as she could be with Nino. "Miss me much?" she laughed, poking him on the nose playfully.

Nino grinned, making Marinette wonder how he was able to keep his act together without falling into a bumbling mess...the way she always seemed too. "You bet," he said. "We're about to start a new match of _Chicken_ — you two are gonna join us right?"

"Only if I'm on your team." Alya's eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Of course." Nino turned his attention to Marinette, giving her an encouraging smile. "You're gonna play too, right Marinette?"

Marinette blushed, stumbling a bit in her hasty retreat. "Oh, no!" She laughed nervously, probably looking like more of an idiot than she already felt. God, she hoped no one was watching. "I'm not any good at this game and I don't really feel like getting wet right now…"

"It's literally ninety degrees out right now," Nino deadpanned.

Marinette's giggles intensified. "I-i know! I'm just, uh, waiting! Yeah! Because I, um, ate some snacks just before we saw you. And you know how it is...gotta wait half an hour or you'll drown...or something…" her words died off slowly, making her feel even more awkward.

"Come on, Nino!" Alya shoved him backward and he splashed into the pool. She shot Marinette a wink before cannonballing into the pool beside Nino.

Marinette sighed in relief, edging away from the pool. The last thing she needed at this point was to make an idiot of herself in the pool playing some weird game, which judging by the looks of it, was completely out of her skill level anyway. Besides, she probably would have managed to somehow lose her bikini top seeing as how clumsy she was and that was something she certainly didn't want on her conscious as she started the new school year.

Keeping her head low and her eyes averted as best she could, Marinette ended up beside one of the tables that must've held snacks at one point, but now just housed a few juice spills, scattered napkins, and empty platters; however, she was more interested in the unlocked gate that led to what looked like a garden.

Marinette wasn't one to snoop, much less an intimidating estate such as Chloe's summer mansion, but the gate opened up to an opening in a hedge-maze lined by clovers. Over the top of the hedge, Marinette was able to make out the tip of a fountain somewhere towards the middle. Surely it had to be less crowded over there, right?

Rocking on the balls of her feet, Marinette inched closer to the gate, making sure that her towel was still securely wrapped around her body. When she verified that Chloe was harassing Sabrina about the color of paper plates she bought, Marinette ducked through the gate and charged around the corner of the first hedge to stay out of sight.

It wasn't as much of a maze as she had first thought it to be and she ended up at the middle fountain in no time. It was an elephant, carved out of stone, that sprayed water out of it's trunk that filled up a wide basin at it's feet. The wind passing through the garden blew the fountain spray as a mist that cooled Marinette's steaming face and arms.

The relaxed atmosphere and cool breeze seemed way more refreshing than being pushed up against fifty people in a crowded swimming pool.

She told herself that she shouldn't spend more than a few minutes here, but the longer she sat the more content she was. She even unwrapped her towel from her torso and tossed it on the grass as she smiled into the mist.

Of course, right when she decided to throw away her only source of cover is exactly when _he_ decided to show up. "Marinette?"

Marinette's eyes bolted open at Adrien's beautiful voice. He was standing less than six feet away from her and his green eyes matched perfectly with his emerald swim trunks. A black towel hung around his neck, giving Marinette the odd suspicion that he resembled somebody she knew but couldn't quite place. "A-ad-adrien?" she stammered, probably as red as she was when she first stepped out of the locker room.

Adrien chuckled softly into his fist, then cleared his throat. "I didn't expect to see anyone else back here."

Marinette stiffened, suddenly feeling guilty. Was she trespassing? Well, of course she was trespassing—on Chloe's estate, that is. But that hardly mattered in her opinion. She was more concerned that she was in Adrien's secret spot. "I'm sorry," she said, starting to stand, but Adrien shook his head with a small smile.

"You don't have to go," he said, sitting beside her on the lip of the fountain. The spray of mist on her back reminded Marinette that she was sitting in front of the man of her dreams in a bikini while her towel was scrunched up in a ball on the grass. She thought about making a mad dash for her towel and running away to avoid saying something totally embarrassing, but Adrien had his soft green eyes fixated on her in a way that made it impossible to move. "Not really big into parties?" he asked.

Marinette giggled nervously. "I'm not much of a partier. Or a swimmer." She leaned back on the side of the fountain, forgetting that there wasn't a surface to support her.

She would have fallen into the basin if Adrien hadn't reached out and steadied her. "I'd beg to differ about that _not much of a swimmer_ thing," he laughed, blushing slightly himself.

"I'm…" the words died in Marinette's throat, partially because she was too embarrassed to continue and partially because she wasn't sure what to say in the first place.

Adrien removed his arm from around her shoulder. "So what brought you back here?"

Marinette internally sighed, glad that he pretended to not hear her incoherent murmur. "I saw the top of the fountain from the pool. I just needed to get away for a minute since Alya was busy."

"Yeah, me too. I only know about this place because I was out here a lot with Chloe when we were kids. I _was_ just hiding out in the bathroom but that got old fast." Leaning over the side of the basin, he skimmed his fingertips along the top of the water in an arc, adding to ripples in the water. "I hate swimming. I used to love it but now not so much. I guess it's a cat thing—"

The moment the words left his mouth, Adrien froze. His cheeks paled considerably in relation to how sunkissed they were just a moment before. Marinette didn't understand why he was so tense about it, but she didn't want him to be uncomfortable so she pretended like she missed it. "I mean, I guess I can tell that you don't like it since you're out here instead of at the pool with Nino."

Adrien relaxed considerably, making Marinette more relaxed as well. "Yeah, but he's probably content hanging out with Alya." He cast her a sidelong glance that made Marinette's heart skip a beat. "Besides, it's nice to get to talk to you, Marinette. We don't really get to hang out as much as I wish we could."

If the look hadn't killed her, then she was definitely dead after hearing that. The stupid smile was on her face and she was doing everything in her power to keep her internal squeals from being external. "O-oh, I like—I mean, I think—heh heh—I would like that too," she stammered through her smile.

"You know," he said, standing up. Marinette shielded her eyes with her hand to keep the sun away enough to see his face. "I may not like swimming, but I'm not entirely against cooling off on a hot day…"

"Adrie—" His intentions clicked in her mind a second too late and now she was dripping from head to toe in fountain water. "Adrien!"

Adrien laughed, filling the small clearing with the most intoxicating sound Marinette had ever been blessed to hear. She wanted to be at least a little upset with him for splashing her, but there was no point. "I'm sorry," he managed after a few attempts at speaking, "but I couldn't help myself."

"Is that right?" Marinette scooped up water in her locked fingers and flung it at Adrien, effectively soaking him. His usually perky blonde hair took on a darker shade and hung in his eyes. She giggled, "I couldn't help myself."

Adrien dropped his towel next to hers. "Excuse me, my lady, but I'm going to have to get you back for that one."

Once again, Marinette was reminded of someone else that she just couldn't seem to pinpoint. She wasn't able to dwell on it though because suddenly Adrien was climbing into the knee-deep fountain and skimming buckets of water in her direction.

She jumped out of the way expertly, no doubt with help from the acrobatics she'd picked up while fighting as Ladybug. "No fair," Adrien pouted amidst a smile, "you can't just dodge out of my range!"

Marinette hugged herself around the stomach as she chuckled. "Sorry," she had to stop herself from saying _kitty_ —wait, is that who Adrien was reminding her of? Chat?

Adrien sat down in the fountain so that the water rose to his shoulders. "You're missing out, Marinette."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I still don't feel like getting super wet."

"Stop being a wet blanket," he teased.

Marinette blushed, unconsciously moving toward the edge of the fountain again. "I am not."

Standing up, Adrien cupped his hands in the water and splashed her again just as she came within range again.

"Fine!" Marinette stepped up onto the basin edge, then stepped into the fountain. The water level was a bit higher than her knees in comparison to the knee-level that Adrien had, but she was able to move around relatively well.

She splashed him and he splashed her back. Sometimes they'd just stand underneath the fountain spray. When she had gotten into the fountain, Marinette had promised herself no longer than ten minutes but they had to have spent at least close to an hour splashing each other in the fountain.

It wasn't until Marinette realized she hadn't checked in with Alya in some time that she decided that it was probably time to head back. "I should probably go," she said, wading toward the edge of the fountain.

Adrien peaked at her from behind the elephant where he had been planning to ambush her with splashes. "What?"

Marinette regarded him with an apologetic smile because the last thing that she wanted to do was _stop hanging out with Adrien Agreste_ , the love of her life. "I haven't seen Alya in a few hours and I don't want her to think I ditched her."

Adrien scrambled out from behind the elephant. "I'll come with you," he offered.

Marinette shook her head despite the growing bubble of excitement in the pit of her stomach. "You don't have to," she said, but he was already climbing out of the fountain. "I don't want to be a burden."

Adrien shook his head and held his hand out to help her down. "Don't worry about it. I've gotta check in with Nino too—woah!"

Now Marinette knew she was clumsy, but slipping on the edge of the basin was in her top three defining moments. After taking Adrien's hand, she had stepped up on the stone edge only for her to misplace her foot and and sling-shot forward.

She was prepared for a face full of dirt, probably a broken nose, and utter humiliation, but Adrien reacted faster than she had; he jumped in front of her, catching her around the waist the breaking the fall as she toppled on top of him.

Ignoring the stinging pain in her knee, Marinette opened her eyes to find herself sprawled on top of Adrien. "Oh my gosh," she gasped, pushing herself up slightly, "I am so sorry Adrien! It was an accident!"

Adrien chuckled hollowly, sitting up just enough so that their noses were almost touching. "I do believe you just fell for me, Marinette."

Marinette's face blossomed into the most intense red yet. "I'm so sorry," she murmured again. She rolled off of him and hurried over to get their towels just so she could avoid eye contact. "Here," she held his towel out to him, "I'm still so sorry."

Adrien wrapped his towel around his neck the same way as he had worn it earlier. "Don't worry about it."

Marinette nodded slowly, falling into step slightly behind him. The embarrassment was still too daunting for her to walk at his side; however, she wasn't expecting him to grab her hand and pull her forward so that they were walking side by side, hand in hand.

"You know, I think today was my favorite part of summer break," he said as they approached the gate.

Marinette giggled awkwardly. "Would it be weird if I said _me too?_ "

Adrien squeezed her hand with a smile. "Not at all."

...

not my best work, but I've spent way too much time on this

2/23/17


End file.
